Field of the Invention and Related Art Statement
The present invention relates generally to a technique for processing images taken with the aid of an endoscope, and more particularly to a method of deriving three dimensional information from a plurality endoscopic images.
Heretofore, there have been proposed various types of endoscopes for taking images within a body and a mechanical construction. There are an optical endoscope comprising an image guide fiber bundle for transmitting an image from a distal end to a proximal end of the endoscope, and an electronic endoscope comprising a solid state image sensor arranged at the distal end of endoscope. With the aid of such endoscopes, images of objects within a body can be directly viewed. Further, when the endoscopic images are required to be recorded, a still camera is provided at an eyepiece section of endoscope and endoscopic images are recorded on photographic films, or an image signal supplied from the solid state image sensor is recorded in an image storing device such as a magnetic and optical image record devices.
In the known systems for recording the endoscopic images, endoscopic images are recorded independently from each other. In some cases a plurality of images are recorded successively, but any relation has not been detected or determined between these images. Therefore, in case of processing the recorded images, each image has to be processed separately. Therefore, in the known endoscopic image processing system, it is impossible to display a three-dimensional image of an object. It has been proposed to take stereoscopic images with the aid of the endoscope. To this end, there are arranged two objective lenses at the distal end of the endoscope and a pair of image guides within the insertion section. However, it is apparent that a size, particularly a diameter of such an endoscope is liable to be large. Further, the two objective lenses could not be arranged such that a sufficient parallax can be obtained, so that the stereoscopic effect could be achieved sufficiently. Due to the above mentioned drawbacks, the stereoscopic endoscope has not been practically manufactured and sold.